The Adjunct Rabbi Search Committee is happy to announce that Rabbi Bill Tepper will serve Holy Blossom as Adjunct Rabbi from mid-December of this year, until June 30, 2022. This is the six-and-a-half-month period between Rabbi Jordan Helfman’s departure for England, and the arrival of a permanent successor on July 1, 2022. That North American-wide search process will take place this fall and winter. Rabbi Tepper will be an essential bridge from Rabbi Helfman’s eight-year tenure to our next Associate Rabbi.
After a fulsome, Canada-wide search process, Rabbi Tepper was enthusiastically selected from among many accomplished rabbis. Rabbi Tepper has successfully led congregations in Canada and the U.S. The Forward featured him as one of “America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis of 2015.” He has done exemplary work in interfaith engagement and allyship for vulnerable communities. This experience will serve our congregation well as he works with our Tikun Olam Department and its many social justice initiatives. Rabbi Tepper’s wisdom and warmth will serve us well as he leads services, teaches our adult and young congregants, and supports our families throughout the life cycle.
You may already know Rabbi Tepper who, with his wife Deborah and son Max, are long-time members of Holy Blossom Temple. Before leaving for Jerusalem and the pursuit of rabbinical studies at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, they participated enthusiastically in congregational life, especially in our Shabbat Morning Family Services and Stagecraft. Recently Rabbi Tepper has taught in a number of settings at Holy Blossom, including in our Melton School program, a two-year course of in-depth study. Having already established many good relationships and appreciating Holy Blossom culture will enable Rabbi Tepper to “hit the ground running.”
Please join us in congratulating Rabbi Tepper on his expanded role in our congregation. We will be strengthened by his leadership.
Rabbi Yael Splansky
Maddie Axelrod
Jeff Denaburg
An Ever-Promising Future
Rabbi Bill S. Tepper
For more than twenty-five years, Holy Blossom Temple has been – for my wife Deborah, son Max and I – a spiritual home. It was at Holy Blossom that we embraced Reform Judaism, immersed ourselves in Jewish learning, and devotedly participated in the celebration of our cherished Jewish rituals, traditions, and stories; not to overlook the years of fulfilling community theatre activity. And it was within our Temple’s sacred spaces and inspired by her outstanding leaders and exemplars, that I was put upon the path towards becoming a rabbi.
In the privileged role of Adjunct Rabbi, I will endeavour – in partnership with everyone for whom Holy Blossom holds a special place in her or his heart, to nurture meaning and reward by way of our welcoming sanctuaries, dynamic classrooms, inviting meeting rooms, beautiful atrium and inclusive streaming service. And I look forward – above all else, perhaps – to the establishment and cultivation of enduring relationships; relationships imbued with caring and trust; relationships at the center of which are kavod – respect – and hesed – kindness.
With Deborah and Max, I thank every one of Holy Blossom Temple for inviting me to be a part of our congregation’s ever-promising future.
In a letter to the small yet learned and pious Jewish community in Yemen, Maimonides comments on the idea of what makes a great nation. He teaches that while others may have bigger numbers, the Jewish people is special because of our Laws our relationship with God.
Right now the countries of the world are competing based on running and jumping, throwing, catching, aiming, and just simply holding it together/being proud when athletes say they can’t.
As a spectator, it is tremendously exciting as Canada and its many athletes compete with heart and with class. Sometimes as a nice bonus, they also bring home medals.
Of course, many of us are also watching the progress of the Israeli teams: watching José Bautista knock the bronze away from the Baseball team with a swing of his bat, and Artem Dolgopyat flip and spin to a gymnastic’s gold.
His mother made a shocking statement after the win, which talks to Israel’s greatness. She decried the fact that he can have a gold medal placed around his neck for Israel, but he can’t place a gold wedding ring around his long-time partner’s finger in Israel.
His non-Jewish Israeli mother also deserves a gold in the parenting Olympics for her statement. I could rephrase her words as, “He won the gold medal, great, but I won’t be happy until there are grandchildren seeing if my knadelach hurt their teeth in the same way to bite.”
This is a conversation, not of Law but of law. While rabbis would not marry Artem Dolgopyat here in Canada – he could easily still get married. But in Israel, mimicking the Ottoman system which was in place before the British Mandate period, only recognized religious authorities can perform marriages. So for Artem, who is not a member of any other religious group, but is not considered Jewish by the rabbis, he is unable to be married, unless he travels – which his coaches have made him too busy to do.
Things are starting to shift in Israel, and reform is in the air, especially as his mother’s pointed celebration has turned into a national conversation.
As Maimonides teaches, being a great nation isn’t about numbers – but about our relationship to Law and God.
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Founded in 1856, Holy Blossom Temple is Toronto’s first synagogue with a rich history of tradition and modernity in our religious and spiritual expression.